Twice last week, the phone rang at home with robo-call surveys about Texas Gov. Rick Perry. It’s the kind that asks whether Perry would get your vote for president and then asks whether you’d vote for him if you knew what a great American he is.

I stopped at the Westside Conservative Breakfast Club on Wednesday to hear former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. I left with a flyer touting Perry’s economic record. Americans for Rick Perry, the non-profit “draft Perry” group, paid for the handout and has been doing some calling.

Meanwhile, a radio ad paid for by GrowPAC, a group founded by former New York Senate candidate David Malpass, touts write-in votes for Perry at the Iowa Republican straw poll on Aug. 13. Update: A TV ad paid for by a PAC called Jobs for Iowa is now airing.

For a candidate who’s not yet in the race, Perry’s getting pretty hard to avoid. It raises the question whether he’s got a chance to make a showing at the Ames beauty contest, even though he’s not on the ballot.

“They have a chance to do a write-in campaign at the straw poll. You have to think that Rick Perry is thinking about that hard,” U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, said last week.

Craig Schoenfeld, the executive director in Iowa of Americans for Rick Perry, downplays the idea that a write-in campaign has much of a chance at the straw poll. “The straw poll is a candidate- driven event. And in this case there’s no candidate, there’s no campaign,” he said.

Americans for Rick Perry isn’t buying tickets for supporters or paying for bus rides to Ames, as most candidates are doing, Schoenfeld said. The group hasn’t been allowed to set up a booth or hand out flyers at the straw poll.

Official candidates who are actually on the straw poll ballot, but don’t attend, generally lag at the back of the pack. It’s hard to imagine a not-yet-candidate generating more than a smattering of write-in votes.

Despite the emphasis that Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum are putting on the straw poll, Schoenfeld says he is finding some open ground for advancing a message about Perry.

Last week, for example, Schoenfeld attended a Clinton County fundraiser with about 80 people in attendance. U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan made an appearance, but no other campaigns even sent staff, Schoenfeld said. About a dozen of those 80 people said they were going to the straw poll, “and so we talked to them about Rick Perry,” he said.

“They were actually a little perturbed that they’re being left alone. Not that the candidates had to show up, but who’s working for their votes?” Schoenfeld asked. “We’ve been doing this for the past couple of weeks, and we’re seeing a lot of that.”

It’s likely that the campaigns have touched most of those voters at other times. But with the straw poll just a couple of weeks away, gatherings of 20 people should merit campaign attention, Schoenfeld says.

That should be a wake-up call for the campaigns that may be depending on a top finish in the straw poll for their very survival. Grassroots organizing isn’t just about who has TV ads, air-conditioned buses and 10,000 Facebook friends. Often, it’s about showing up where others don’t and making face-to-face contacts. That’s what Schoenfeld sways he’s trying to do.

Some might say having a non-candidate hijack attention at the straw poll is unfair to those who played by the conventional rules, established their official campaigns and shelled out the bucks for a solid organization. Some members of the Republican State Central Committee voiced such concerns as reasons to oppose including Perry and Sarah Palin on the straw poll ballot.

It could be a problem for future straw polls if a non-candidate were to spend lavishly enough to influence the vote. But surely there’s no reason for established campaigns to be afraid of a little competition in grassroots organization, is there?

The straw poll is like the caucuses in the sense that the biggest headlines aren’t necessarily for the largest vote-getter. Beating expectations is the game in Ames, and no one goes in with lower expectations than Perry. That could make him an underdog whose bite is far worse than his bark.

Political columnist Kathie Obradovich can be reached at (515) 284-8126 or kobradov@dmreg.com. Twitter: @kobradovich. Blog: DesMoinesRegister.com/obradovich.